No KGO Job Yet for 49ers' Plummer

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, March 19, 1998

CONTRARY TO reports this week, KGO radio has not reached terms with 49ers linebacker Gary Plummer to become the team's color announcer, KGO president and general manager Mickey Luckoff said yesterday. In fact, Luckoff didn't even meet

Plummer until Tuesday afternoon -- the same day a South Bay newspaper reported that Plummer already had been granted the job.

"That is absolutely not true; (49ers team president) Carmen Policy and I are frankly embarrassed about that," Luckoff said. "No offers have been made or anything like that. We haven't even discussed terms."

Luckoff said that other candidates, including former 49ers tight end Brent Jones, have not been ruled out.

Policy did not return calls this week, and Plummer was unavailable for comment. Three weeks ago, Plummer told On the Air he was lobbying for the job and would retire if he got it.

Jones, like Plummer, has coveted the position since the end of last season. Unlike Plummer, Jones has already officially announced his retirement. Though he was rumored to be in line for a network analyst job, Jones has not obtained one yet, and he is still very interested in the KGO spot.

"It's the perfect opportunity to get into the radio side," Jones said. "That's kind of what I'd been hoping."

On March 4, the 49ers and KGO (810 AM) signed a new three-year deal that is worth approximately $5 million a year.

LOCAL OUTFIT EXPANDS: Sports Byline USA, created by local host Ron Barr and produced in San Francisco, has merged with Prime Sports Radio overnight and weekends, making the program the largest nightly sports talk show in the country. The move will add 50 to 75 affiliates to a stable that already includes more than 250 stations and two million listeners a week.

"Essentially what we did was take them over," Barr said. "We're really growing."

In addition, Barr announced that the programming will increase by three hours, running from 10 p.m. to 9 a.m. on the East Coast and from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. on the West Coast. He also said that local station KPBA (1220 AM) has become an affiliate and that an in-flight audio deal in in the offing with a major airline.

VISSER JOINS MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL:

As expected, ABC has added a female broadcaster to its Monday Night Football broadcasts, with veteran Lesley Visser joining the crew as a sideline reporter.

"Lesley is one of the hardest- working and best-connected television journalists covering the NFL," said Stave Anderson, the senior vice president of production for ABC Sports. "Her high energy and engaging personality provides our audience unprecedented access to the issues and personalities of the

NFL."

Visser moved from CBS to ABC in 1994, and her duties have included college football and horse racing coverage, along with the NFL.

ESPN TRIPLEHEADER: ESPN will open the baseball season on March 31 with Kansas City at Baltimore at noon, Cleveland at Seattle at 4 p.m. and Colorado at Arizona at 7 p.m. The latter will be the first regular- season game ever for the Diamondbacks.

ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" will begin April 5 with the Giants at Arizona at 5 p.m.

Fox Sports Net's first baseball broadcast will be on April 2, with the New York Yankees at Anaheim at 7 p.m. On April 9, Fox Sports Net has Houston at San Francisco.